Pilgrim’s $76 Million Chicken Cartel Settlement Gets Initial Nod

The consumers leading antitrust litigation over an alleged industrywide scheme to fix broiler chicken prices won preliminary approval Thursday from a federal judge in Chicago for their $75.5 million settlement with JBS SA subsidiary Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

Judge Thomas M. Durkin signed off tentatively on the agreement, as well a $1 million pact with Marc-Jac Poultry Inc. affiliates, which would resolve class action claims against them brought by “end-user consumers” that have targeted the country’s top poultry processors.

The lawsuit, consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, also involves allegations on behalf of “direct purchasers” ...